Everyday after school, Allen would shoot hoops at his school's playground to pass the time until his mother picked him up very late at night. One day, while he was in elementary school, a group of high school boys asked him if he wanted to play a pickup game with them. He agrees reluctantly since he didn't have anything else to do. He was the last player picked up and on the first play, he crossed one of the boys and spun pass the others to lay the ball right in the rim. While Allen was playing, an AAU Travel basketball team coach happened to see him play and was amazed by what this young man was doing. The coach approached him after the pickup games were finished and asked him to come to the next practice that he was having. Allen didn't want to at first and declined the offer, but the coach was persistent and talked to his mother the following day. Allen's mom thought it would be good for him to play and make friends so she agreed to have the coach stop by later to pick Allen up. Once Allen's mom told him about the practice, he refused to go with the coach to practice. His mom literally dragged him outside to the coach so he would go. This one little incident changed Allen's life forever. He became the starting point guard on the travel team and was becoming well known. His high school varsity coach even game to most of his AAU games to witness greatness in the making. By the time Iverson was a freshman; he was already a top ten player in the nation and started on his high school's varsity team. Freshman making varsity let alone starting was extremely rare back then so everyone wanted to see what this new kid was made of. In Allen's first game, he put up an amazing 42 points against another top team. He went on to lead his team to three state championships from his sophomore to senior year. Yet Allen had an ego which redirected college scouts away from him, so his mom personally went to THE coach Josh Thompson II (Hall of Fame Coach) and begged him to let Allen play for him because Allen needed a fatherly figure and she always admired Coach Thompson II as a coach and as a person. He agreed and the first year Iverson played at
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Only the Strong Survive, But what makes you strong?
The biography about NBA Allen Iverson is very unique in the fact that when we say someone has a rough childhood, Iverson's was the roughest. His father left him when he was very young. Allen doesn't even remember what his father looks like. His mom worked two sometimes three jobs to be able to afford food and barely a shelter for her and her son. Allen stayed in the same school district but constantly moved from different apartments to hotels then motel and so on.
Everyday after school, Allen would shoot hoops at his school's playground to pass the time until his mother picked him up very late at night. One day, while he was in elementary school, a group of high school boys asked him if he wanted to play a pickup game with them. He agrees reluctantly since he didn't have anything else to do. He was the last player picked up and on the first play, he crossed one of the boys and spun pass the others to lay the ball right in the rim. While Allen was playing, an AAU Travel basketball team coach happened to see him play and was amazed by what this young man was doing. The coach approached him after the pickup games were finished and asked him to come to the next practice that he was having. Allen didn't want to at first and declined the offer, but the coach was persistent and talked to his mother the following day. Allen's mom thought it would be good for him to play and make friends so she agreed to have the coach stop by later to pick Allen up. Once Allen's mom told him about the practice, he refused to go with the coach to practice. His mom literally dragged him outside to the coach so he would go. This one little incident changed Allen's life forever. He became the starting point guard on the travel team and was becoming well known. His high school varsity coach even game to most of his AAU games to witness greatness in the making. By the time Iverson was a freshman; he was already a top ten player in the nation and started on his high school's varsity team. Freshman making varsity let alone starting was extremely rare back then so everyone wanted to see what this new kid was made of. In Allen's first game, he put up an amazing 42 points against another top team. He went on to lead his team to three state championships from his sophomore to senior year. Yet Allen had an ego which redirected college scouts away from him, so his mom personally went to THE coach Josh Thompson II (Hall of Fame Coach) and begged him to let Allen play for him because Allen needed a fatherly figure and she always admired Coach Thompson II as a coach and as a person. He agreed and the first year Iverson played atGeorgetown Philadelphia Turkey
Everyday after school, Allen would shoot hoops at his school's playground to pass the time until his mother picked him up very late at night. One day, while he was in elementary school, a group of high school boys asked him if he wanted to play a pickup game with them. He agrees reluctantly since he didn't have anything else to do. He was the last player picked up and on the first play, he crossed one of the boys and spun pass the others to lay the ball right in the rim. While Allen was playing, an AAU Travel basketball team coach happened to see him play and was amazed by what this young man was doing. The coach approached him after the pickup games were finished and asked him to come to the next practice that he was having. Allen didn't want to at first and declined the offer, but the coach was persistent and talked to his mother the following day. Allen's mom thought it would be good for him to play and make friends so she agreed to have the coach stop by later to pick Allen up. Once Allen's mom told him about the practice, he refused to go with the coach to practice. His mom literally dragged him outside to the coach so he would go. This one little incident changed Allen's life forever. He became the starting point guard on the travel team and was becoming well known. His high school varsity coach even game to most of his AAU games to witness greatness in the making. By the time Iverson was a freshman; he was already a top ten player in the nation and started on his high school's varsity team. Freshman making varsity let alone starting was extremely rare back then so everyone wanted to see what this new kid was made of. In Allen's first game, he put up an amazing 42 points against another top team. He went on to lead his team to three state championships from his sophomore to senior year. Yet Allen had an ego which redirected college scouts away from him, so his mom personally went to THE coach Josh Thompson II (Hall of Fame Coach) and begged him to let Allen play for him because Allen needed a fatherly figure and she always admired Coach Thompson II as a coach and as a person. He agreed and the first year Iverson played at
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Kyle your intelligence is out of this world. Allen Iverson was an outstanding basketball player. It is too bad that he fell off the map or fell into the european league.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm not a super big basketball fan, this book sounds really interesting. I like that you took Iverson's story and are trying to apply it to your own life, to make yourself successful.
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